IT security buyers are consolidating vendors at an overwhelming rate, according to a speaker at this week’s Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit.
In a session on cybersecurity market trends and growth opportunities, Gartner analyst and VP Neil MacDonald said 75% of security buyers are pursuing vendor consolidation, up from just 29% in 2020.
“Customers want fewer providers,” he said.
MacDonald’s talk was directed at vendors rather than buyers, and he cautioned them: “Don’t just throw a bunch of stuff together; make it work better.”
Security Products Merge Into Platforms
As part of that trend, security products are consolidating too, MacDonald said. He noted 10 areas where cybersecurity products are merging into broader platforms (see slide below).
Secure web gateways, CASB and zero trust network access (ZTNA) are merging to become security service edge (SSE), he said — and with the addition of SD-WAN technology, SSE becomes secure access service edge (SASE).
EDR, NDR and identity threat and detection response (ITDR) are merging into XDR platforms — even as XDR joins with SIEM and SOAR to become Security Operations Platforms.
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